


Demon Hunter

by YuuAyA



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, I Tried, I just want to try this once, M/M, My summary sucks too, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Not Beta Read, Not pirates, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow To Update, Straw Hat Ace, Wrote this instead of focusing on my other works, my title sucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-05 12:17:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11577927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YuuAyA/pseuds/YuuAyA
Summary: Demon Hunters; as the name states, they hunt demons or fiends for a living. Monkey. D. Luffy and Portgas. D. Ace dreams to become one when they grow up. With Monkey. D. Garp's help, they were accepted into the Academy and become a certified Demon Hunter.In the recent years, the amount of supernatural activities have drastically increased. What could have caused it? And how could they stop it?(Sorry guys, I couldn't think of a better summary with my half-dead brain.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was reading this fanfic called 'Sawamura Daichi is a good person' written by HomeForImaginaryFriends in the Haikyuu Fandom; also a supernatural AU, and I realize that not much people write this type of AU in this fandom so I decided to give it a go plus it's a pretty good challenge to myself. (I know I might never write this kind of AU)
> 
>  
> 
> Luckily my brain was able to form a good enough plot to get my attention, and while I was having brain-fart while writing Seeking For Freedom (my other fanfic), I started writing this (and the spare time at my part-time job) that's how this first chapter was formed.
> 
> Before all of you read, the Straw Hat crew's image will be based on after the 2 years time skip in the original story. And this is a multi-chapter story.
> 
> Warnings: Not beta read, horrible grammar and slow updates.

 

 

 

 

 

The soft and soothing sound of Brook fiddling with his violin and the sound of Franky and Usopp messing around with their weapon creation at the back of the house was broken by the banging sound of the door being shoved or kicked open had caused everyone to jump up slightly. They should have gotten used to the sound of the door being shoved or kicked open since one of their two leaders didn’t know the normal way of opening the door, but they weren’t expecting them to return for another two more hours.

 

“ ** _CHOPPER_**!” the scream got all of them rushing down to the only entrance of their base and house.

 

When they got there, they see Luffy; one of their two leaders and the one who doesn’t know how to open doors, struggling to keep Ace; their other leader who is also Luffy’s older brother, up-right and help him through the door. The strong coppery scent of blood directed their attention to Ace where they could see the blood flowing down his limp arm, droplets of them dripping down and it’s starting to form a puddle on the ground. Taking note of the physical conditions of their two leaders, all of them noticed the gushes, bruises and scratches which were missing before the both of them went out to hunt for their dinner a few hours prior.

 

“What happened?” Nami asked as Franky step forward to support and carry Ace to the sofa, “Aren’t the both of you supposed to go out and hunt for our dinner?”

 

“We were hunting but a fiend suddenly appeared and attacked us, Ace used his body to shield me and took most of the damage.” Luffy explained, his eyes never leaving the weaken form of his older brother.

 

“Have you taken care of the fiend?” Zoro asked, his hands touching the three katana that is strapped by his hip.

 

Nami couldn’t hold back her anger and slapped Zoro at the back of his head, “Why are you more concerned about the fiend than Ace’s well-being?!” she screamed.

 

Glaring at her, “The civilians in Foosha Village would be in trouble if we leave the fiend unattended especially if it is strong enough to do this much damage to Ace and could sneak up on the both of them.”

 

Managing to tear his eyes away from the sight of Chopper; their healer, working on Ace’s body, “Ace had already taken care of the fiend,” Luffy informed them, “Ace was able to get a hit in.”

 

“We should still patrol around the forest to see if there is anymore fiend that have hidden themselves in the forest and warn the civilians about the fiend we found.” Brook commented from the side, “We should also warn Dadan-san about the dangers in the forest.”

 

Nodding her head to agree with what Brook said, “Sanji, Zoro I want the both of you to patrol the higher ground of the forest and warn Dadan about what just happened. Brook and I will take care of the lower half, head down to the village to warn the civilians and get our dinner.” Nami ordered, stepping up to take charge of the gang when their leaders are either too busy or too injured to do anything else, “Be prepare for attacks.”

 

The three of them nodded their heads before Sanji and Zoro left the house first. The both of them didn’t really need to get anything since Zoro’s weapons are the three katana; crafted and blessed by kamaitachi, that he always carries around wherever he went and Sanji uses his physical body (his legs) for his attacks.

 

As Nami waited for Book to get ready and get her weapons, she turned to look at Franky and Usopp who are standing in attention; waiting for their orders, “I want the both of you to keep an eye out, kill any fiend that is too close to our house.”

 

“And I will activate the protective barrier once Chopper doesn’t need my help.” Robin added, making eye contact with Nami.

 

“What about me? What can I do in this situation?” Luffy asked.

 

“Luffy you can stay here and help Chopper to look after Ace. I don’t believe that the idiot will listen to what Chopper says and stay on bed-rest longer than two hours.” Nami’s statement had caused Luffy to laugh; brighten up the room in this serious case, none of them will ever say this out loud but Luffy’s laughter always makes the house; that their leaders built a long time ago, brighter.

 

“Got it Nami, I will do my best to look after Ace! And bring back lots of meat for the both of us!”

 

As Brook and her slowly combed through the forest, it’s taking longer than what Nami had planned however it’s for the villagers’ sake whom had accepted all of them even with all of their strange quirks; like how Sanji would gush at every single lady he comes across or how Brook would always politely request to see a ladies’ panties, the civilians of Foosha Village understood that they are here to protect them and would **_never_** do anything to harm them.

 

When they were in their last location to warn the last batch of civilians, night has already fallen. There is no doubt in Nami’s mind that Luffy is whining to others who were left behind to protect their base and house about how hungry he is, “Nami-san, I have managed to warn Woop Slap-san and some of the civilians who were talking about him.”

 

Nodding her head, “Let’s head to Party’s Bar, Makino will be able to warn the others for us tomorrow plus we need to get the dinner back to the base before Luffy destroys it in a hunger rage.” That caused Brook to laugh at her.

 

It’s not a secret that their team leaders are actually two individual black-holes with legs wearing the skin of a human and walking amongst them, in one sitting the both of them could eat a meal that would have last the village for a whole weeks and that’s the minimum damage they had created. There was once where all of them had seen their leaders eat enough food that would have sustain the village for a whole full month however that was after a particularly hard battle with a demon that could heal itself from the damages they inflicted on it.

 

While Nami knew that Chopper or Franky will be able to stop Luffy from destroying the house, but she is uncertain whether their idiotic leader will be stupid enough to head out into the forest to continue his hunt when the forest hasn’t been cleared yet.

 

If she wanted to avoid the trouble, she will need to hurry up and finish her assignments because their idiotic leader would not listen to anyone; even to Ace, unless physical force and threats to reduce his intake of meat had been used on him.

 

“Nami, Brook what can I do for the both of you?” Makino called out as soon as the both of them walk through the door, catching her customers’ attention and they all started greeting the both of them.

 

Nodding their heads to return the greetings, they quickly migrate to the bar counter. Raising one of her hand in order to silence everyone so that they can hear the announcement Nami is going to make, “We would like all of you to avoid the forest until we have checked every inch out.” They didn’t really have to explain why; all of the civilians knew that if they are the ones making this announcement it could only mean that a demon or a fiend is behind it.

 

“Did something happen?” Makino asked.

 

“Luffy and Ace was attacked by a fiend while they were out hunting for dinner in the forest, they managed to get rid of it but it’s best to avoid the area until we clear the whole forest out.” Nami answered as Brook went forward to answer the questions other civilians have for them.

 

“Are the both of them okay?”

 

Nami almost couldn’t hold back her fond smile.

 

All of them knew about the connection between Makino and their two leaders. Makino had first taken care of Luffy; while he was still living in the village, until Garp (their grandfather who is one of the higher ranking Government officers) had forcefully send him to Dadan (a bandit leader who only recruits half-blood humans). Worried about Luffy, Makino had actually climbed up the dangerous forest (that is filled with both fiends and large, dangerous animals) alone, and when she found out that Luffy isn’t the only child living in that forest, she took Ace under her wings too. Bringing the both of them food and clothes, teaching them how to read, write and calculate, showing them new things that could only be found on other island.

 

To make it simple, Makino had basically taken the role of ‘mother’ for two children who weren’t blood-related to her, taking dare, protecting and even teaching them as much as she could. Makino’s actions reminded Nami of Bell-mere; a retired Government Officer who had also taken in two orphans under her wings.

 

“Makino, you shouldn’t worry too much for the two idiots.” When the worry look didn’t disappear, “Ace might be injured but Chopper is there to take care of him. Luffy, Franky, Usopp and Robin are also there to make sure Ace is on bed-rest.”

 

A relief sigh was released, “Nami, I know that Luffy and Ace aren’t the easiest to look after; especially Luffy who doesn’t listen, but thank you for helping me to keep an eye on the both of them.”

 

Feeling the burning hot sensation of a blush making its way up from her shoulders to the tip of her hair, it’s hard to explain but there’s always a special yet unexplainable feeling bubbling up inside of them whenever Makino thanked or praise them for anything they have done.

 

Maybe it’s because most of them have lost their parental figure before they enter into their teenage years and that all of them kind of view and treated Makino as their ‘mother’? She couldn’t really explain.

 

“This is nothing Makino; I am just paying Luffy and Ace back for what they have done for my hometown.” Nami reminded her.

 

Nami’s hometown was once terrorized under Arlong’s (one of the small handfuls of Demon Hunters whom had been forcefully discharged from the force due to their sadistic behavior) hold, Arlong had chose to settle down in her hometown that were far away from the Demon Hunter Headquarters. Every single villager who live there were forced to pay a certain sum of money every month for his ‘protection service’ and those who weren’t able to pay the sum were executed. Bell-mere was one of the few who had refused to pay and tried to fought back against Arlong that had caused her to be killed in front of Nami and her sister’s eyes. With no one else to turn to, Nami had decided to be the one who save her village, plus her powers as a tempestarli (weather making magician) was something that had gotten Arlong’s interest.

 

Being sent to the Academy to become a certified Demon Hunter by Arlong, Nami had told the lecturers and Demon Hunters there about the situation happening on her hometown however nothing was ever done to help or those people who she was supposed to trust were calling her a liar. Those experiences caused Nami to believe that no one will ever help her hometown and that she could only trust herself to save the remaining villagers. Thankfully she had came to an agreement with Arlong, she would need to pay 2 billion dollars in one go to buy her hometown back from Arlong, that was the only thing which she could do now to save everyone.

 

Nami was able to save up a small lump sum of money due to the missions that are always available for students who wanted the additional exposure and experience, of course the missions are usually easy cases that could be taken care of by anyone (by having students taking care of those missions, it spares the other Demon Hunters from wasting time on the small cases and focus on other missions), Nami would always grab as much as she could that she would be able to complete on her own since the students would be paid if they complete the missions. Of course at least one lecturer or Demon Hunter whom had came to the Academy for a talk would accompany the students when they head out to provide any back-ups or complete the mission if the students are unable to. However it’s taking too long for her to reach the 2 billion dollars, Nami had resorted to stealing money, blackmailing and even gambling with other students to increase the amount that she could save.

 

After her graduation, the Demon Hunter Society had sent Nami all over the world; making good use of her powers, until she was sent to Dawn Island where she met her two leaders, being the third member of the team that is supposed to take care of the insane amount of cases Dawn Island attracts due to the magnetic field that was created a few years ago. While Nami might have been worried about herself when she understood the reason why Dawn Island have such a large amount of cases here (since she isn’t that powerful compared to other people) until she witness the strength of her two leaders. Worried that the two idiots believe that she would continue to work under the both of them, Nami had told them she will request for a transfer after a year or two and that information didn’t bothered the two brothers that much.

 

After spending a year with the Straw Hats (named due to the hat that Luffy loves to wear) and meeting new members who were sent to join them, the pay every Demon Hunter receive at the end of each month and the stash of money she stole from Luffy and Ace, Nami was finally able to father the remaining one billion dollar she needed to buy her hometown back. Leaving Dawn Island in the middle of the night with the Straw Hat’s only boat, she didn’t leave any note behind to inform the rest that she is leaving them; she didn’t need those people chasing after her and demanding her to pay back the money that she stole.

 

The first thing that she did when she returned back home was to head to the mandarin groove Bell-mere left behind for them to check whether her other stash of one billion is still hidden and not stolen by other people. Nami also added the other billion into the hiding spot because she know that Arlong would tell his underling to check the ship and take everything that is useful to them.

 

When Arlong requested a meeting with her, Nami didn’t waste any time and told him that she had the 2 billion dollar ready to buy her hometown. She had been expecting Arlong to be angry with her but all the disgraced Demon Hunter did was to postpone the meeting till the next day.

 

The strange request should have made Nami suspicious but she had overlooked it in her joy of finally saving everyone who is left in the village. However her hopes was shattered when Nojiko; her sister, informed Nami that she had seen Arlong’s underlings digging through the mandarin groove in the middle of the night when she woke up to get a glass of water. Nami quickly rushed out to check the spot where she had hidden all of her money only to find everything gone; Arlong had ordered his underlings to find the 2 billion dollars Nami had and stole all of it.

 

Nami had never felt this much anger before in her entire life, confronting Arlong didn’t heel much results as the disgusting man demanded her to prove that he had been the one to stole her money. Without the evidence and money, there’s nothing more which Nami could do beside to start saving the 2 billion dollar all over again, and judging from the smirk on Arlong’s face, that was the outcome he had wanted.

 

The other villagers whom had witness the scene were outraged on her behalf, all of them had enough of following Arlong and everyone banded together; picking up whatever tools they could get their hands on that could be used as a weapon, to defeat Arlong and overthrown him.

 

It’s a stupid move.

 

Normal civilians who don’t have any magical powers are practically useless in a fight against a Demon Hunter even if they held weapons and fought in numbers. Nami had screamed that fact at the villagers; she didn’t want to see any more people whom had taken care of her and Nojiko when they were younger to be killed by Arlong, but no one cared.

 

They were willing to lose their life to overthrow Arlong’s hold on them to make their children’s life better.

 

And all of them **_knew_** about the agreement Nami had made with Arlong; the Mayor had overheard Nami talking about it when she visited Bell-mere’s grave after a hard fight with Nojiko, knew about the sacrifices she had to make in order to save all of them, knew that Nami had to go to the Academy and become a Demon Hunter; a job that held so much risk that most people wouldn’t want to do. They had enough of sitting there, relaying on Nami to do all of the hard work.

 

Nami couldn’t do anything but look at everyone’s back-view as they rushed to the castle that Arlong had built, that’s when the gang minus Robin whom had been left at Dawn Island to protect the villagers, appeared in front of her.

 

_“Nami, what do you want to do?” Is the simple question that Luffy ask._

_It took a while before Nami could force her answer out of her mouth. How could she ask for help from those people whom she had stole from and betrayed? But she couldn’t find another way out of this situation; it’s either she ask for help or she will have to bury everyone, that image had caused her to make up her mind quickly, “… Luffy, Ace…” she sobbed out, “Help me!”_

_“ **OF COURSE!** ” Luffy screamed out after plopping his famous Straw Hat (that he is protective of and doesn’t allow other people to touch it) onto her head._

The battle to overthrow Arlong had been long and hard but they did it. Ace and Luffy’s tag team to defeat Arlong had worked out, and they left the defeated Demon Hunter along with the underlings who haven’t run away when they see their boss had been defeated to the judgment of the Mayor and the villagers.

 

The smile on Makino’s face told Nami that the Bar owner doesn’t believe what she had just said, “Of course, now is there anything else which I could do for you?”

 

“We need to bring dinner back.” Nami didn’t need to say anything else before Makino headed into the small kitchen to work on the large order that Brook and her will need to carry back. Being the care-taker of Luffy and Ace, Makino knew how much the both of them could eat without the rest saying anything.

 

“Nami-san, the civilians all knew about the dangers and will help us to inform the others who weren’t present.” Brook informed once he returned to her side.

 

Nodding her head, “Well, we could leave the rest to them. Makino is now making our dinner.”

 

It didn’t take Makino too long to prepare their orders (and while they were waiting, Brook had pulled his violin out of God knows where and started playing it). As they make their way up to their house, Brook had made sure to take most of their orders so that Nami would have at least one of her hands free so that she could cast her spells if they were suddenly attacked by any fiends or animals.

 

“Nami swan~” Sanji called out as he quickly rushed to the both of them, “I’ve came to help you!”

 

Sanji’s physical appearance and his clothes told Nami that they haven’t met any attack when he combed through the forest, “Sanji, everything was okay?”

 

Nodding his head, “Everything was fine, we didn’t meet any attacks.” He answered as he stole some of the take-outs from both Nami and Brook’s hands, “In fact we didn’t meet anything besides the spirits that lives in the forest and animals. But we’ve warned Dadan and her crew.”

 

The information Sanji shared with them doesn’t really sit well with Nami and Brook.

 

Having being the first member to join both Luffy and Ace in their team to fight against the insane group of supernatural beings that are attracted to the magnetic field on Dawn Island, Nami **KNEW** through all of the experience that there’s no way where only **_ONE_** fiend or demon is attracted here. And even if they did only find one fiend or demon, the supernatural being is always so strong that it kills off the others that are attracted and they would have a hard time fighting against it. So there must be something that all of them are missing in their worries and hurry.

 

In Brook’s case, he might be the last member to join the Straw Hat crew but that didn’t meant that he didn’t have enough experience from being a Demon Hunter and he had seen and experienced the horror and damages that are left after a supernatural being is done with the village, town or city. If his team hadn’t died after a hard battle with a group of supernatural beings that uses poisonous gas, he wouldn’t have met the Straw Hat crew. And from all of his experiences, his instinct is telling him that there’s something all of them are still missing.

 

“Since we didn’t meet any attacks, Zoro and I went ahead and hunt for some meat and cooked them to stop Luffy from whining about how hungry he is and to stop him from heading out of the house.” Sanji informed the other two as they continue making their way up the mountain.

 

“Good job, what about Ace?” Nami asked.

 

Sanji could only shake his head, “He was whining about being stuck on bed-rest when we returned back. Ace was struggling to get off the bed but Chopper and Luffy managed to keep him in bed.”

 

Even Brook couldn’t help but shake his head at the image his brain produced, “Sounds like what Ace-san would do.”

 

“Oh and before I forgot, Dadan-san had promised to keep an eye out on her part of the forest. She will call us as soon as she sees or heard anything.”

 

“That’s good. All that’s left for us to check is the area surrounding the Capital.” Nami almost grumbled out.

 

While Nami had nothing against the people living in Foosha Village, she can’t say much for those who lived in the Capital. All of the Straw Hat crew had the opportunity to head into the Capital at least once to escort Chopper whenever those people needed Chopper’s ability as a healer, none of them liked the Nobles’ (the title given to people whose wealth is above average) attitude of looking down on every single person who isn’t given the title of a Noble or a Celestial Dragon (wealthiest people around the World).

 

Robin (their savior) had the foresight of slapping some protective sigils she created that would repeal any supernatural beings from entering the Capital onto the walls that separates it from Foosha Village (the walls that were built due to the Nobles’ insistent in order to prevent the civilians living in Foosha Village from sneaking in), thus reducing both the number of request and the times they would need to head into the Capital because those Nobles are idiots who do what they wanted and ignored their warnings about the dangers of the forest. The sigils might be able to repeal most of the supernatural beings however it wouldn’t stand a chance against those that are stronger, the barrier would only be able to hold out for at least two days before the supernatural beings would be able to break through it.

 

Therefore all of them would still need to keep an eye out and patrol around the wall’s surroundings to clear out the fiends and demons that had gathered around and to reapply the sigils before they are worn out. However that isn’t the problem that Nami worries about.

 

However that wasn’t the cause of Nami’s dipped mood. It’s the location which is known as Grey Terminal by everyone on Dawn Island. Located outside of the Capital’s wall on the eastern side, that’s where most of the supernatural beings would gather due to the magnetic field that had attracted them to Dawn Island.

 

In the past, Grey Terminal was the location where it houses all of the people whom had been banished from the Capital; and that includes disgraced Nobles, those people were stripped off of their titles or ranks, beaten till unconscious before being dumped like garbage. The areas soon becomes a place where it’s lawless, a place where the weak and old were being bullied and treated as punching bag for those who were stronger and younger, murders happening in broad daylight, people being raped out in the open or in front of their bastard child, children being abused, people being snatched away and killed in order to harvest their organs. Yet people continued to live there in hopes that their family would clear their names, being welcomed back and returned to their lives within the Capital walls.

 

That was the living conditions within the Grey Terminal until a fire broke out and everything including the humans living in there and a small portion of the forest were reduced to ashes and also the very same day where the magnetic field was created. Robin and Chopper had tried their best to study and find out why and how the field was created in order to stop it. Sadly they weren’t taught or trained in that field and weren’t able to find anything that could help in their research, the only thing the Straw Hat crew could do is to kill all of the fiends and demons that had gathered in the Grey Terminal before those supernatural beings could do any fatal damages to the people on Dawn Island.

 

There are additional risks to this solution.

 

With the lack of human life within Grey Terminal, the buzzing sound of activities those supernatural beings could feel from the Capital and barrier that prevented them from entering, the fiends or demons’ appetite for destruction would increase till they start killing one another in order to curb the pain from their urges until the strongest one is left. When that time comes, all of the Straw Hat crew would gear up and head into Grey Terminal to deal with the supernatural being before it would do any fatal damages to the civilians in both Foosha Village and Capital.

 

While it’s easier and better for all of them to fight against one instead of the endless waves of supernatural beings that attack from all angles, the battle against the strongest fiend or demon would be a pain in the ass for them to handle. Not only would the battle drag on for the whole day; or in dread situations two days, and take a lot of their energy but there could be other weaker fiends or demons that have managed to survive the massacre by hiding themselves or those that had just arrived on Dawn Island that would attack them in their weaken form.

 

And of course there is this person named Zoro on their team who doesn’t have a single sense of direction; who could get lost from them just by walking in a straight line, might stumble into the Grey Terminal by mistake while trying to find his way back to their base. Other people might find it funny or believe that this is a story which they made up as a joke; however they had already experienced it once.

 

All of them had noticed that Zoro was missing after everyone returned back to the base after completing their patrols and immediately started searching for that directionless idiot. They had dismissed the idea of the idiot walking into the Grey Terminal until two whole days had passed and it was the only location left for them to search. All of them spent five minutes gearing up to their teeth before charging into the most dangerous location on Dawn Island, ready to kill anything and everything that stood in their way to finding Zoro.

 

The scene they came across isn’t pretty, the wind blowing the ashes; the remains of a supernatural being after it was killed, in their direction, the light smoke rising from the hissing and dissolving teal blood of the supernatural beings revealing the coppery red blood from a human hidden underneath them. When they finally found Zoro, he was standing in the middle of the rumbles of a large scale battle, with blood flowing off of him like rivers before merging into a large puddle on the ground.

 

If they had arrived just a few seconds later, or if Chopper hadn’t had the mind to grab his most extensive medical bag and somehow worked fast enough to stabilize Zoro’s condition, they might have lost a member there and then. The memory itself is traumatizing enough that Ace and Luffy had both refused to allow anyone to head into the Grey Terminal unless the whole crew is there, if some of them are injured Robin will activate the barrier while the others leave to take care of the supernatural beings and in the worst case scenario where either Luffy or Ace is injured no one is allowed there until the both of them heals even if it meant that the supernatural beings would terrorize the Capital walls for a while.

 

As if Brook had the ability to read Nami’s mind, “I believe we should wait for Ace-san to heal before we check the Capital’s surroundings.”

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied.
> 
> About uploading my other story before uploading chapter 2.
> 
> I apologize for those who are still waiting for the last chapter of my other work. It's still work in process, about halfway done. XD
> 
> Warnings: Grammar mistakes, have trouble with writing in present tense and this isn't beta-read.

 

 

 

 

Being a half-bred; half-human and half-supernatural being, had its perks.

 

Not only does it means that their magical abilities are way better than a normal human, they also have better instincts and better reflexes, enhanced healing abilities that are at least ten times faster than a human and they could easily regain their energy and strength back by eating.

 

Once the Higher-ups in the Demon Hunter Society and World Government Officers finally learnt and understood those advantages, they started accepting half-breeds into the Academy for the past seven years and of course there is a hidden motive and reason behind that decision. All of them had planned to assign missions that held way more risks than normal and is too demanding for the humans to the half-bred Demon Hunters, they would rather risk the lives of those Demon half-bred than their human counter-part.

 

Not much people know about this information, only those who attended the meeting and the person who assign missions are the ones who knew because those Higher-ups didn’t want this information to leak out; not only will it destroy their image but the intake of half-bred students would decrease.

 

And Ace is one of many half-bred who were kept in the dark. Chopper’s examinations estimated that their older leader would be mostly healed within three days where it would have taken at least half a month for normal humans to heal before they were allowed to do anything tedious. And that’s why all of them are always worried about Ace’s health and his condition.

 

Being the only half-bred amongst them, Ace knew about his physical and magical advantages so whenever a new member joins them and they had to head out for a battle before they could rearrange their battle formation to accommodate the newbie or when they are facing a particularly hard fight, Ace would always be the ‘bait’ and buying time for everyone else to gather themselves or Ace would force himself to go on and nearly use up every single drop of his magic.

 

All of them had already lost count of how many times that had already happened and after the third time where Ace dropped from exhaustion, Chopper had made sure to pre-make at least 20 healing potions to keep on hand, Nami had also been kind enough to clear up a large patch of her garden (where she grows her mandarin) to allow Chopper and Robin to plant medical herbs so none of them would have to blindly search the forest whenever they ran out and needed it badly.

 

They had been worried that Ace would try to force them to head out before he is fully healed however with the pout-and-disappointed look combination from both Chopper and Luffy was enough to keep their stubborn leader in bed, the lack of updates from Dadan and the last request their received from the Capital was a few months ago about some missing-people case had them thinking that maybe they were over-looking at the situation and everything were just theories that they made up.

 

Instead of dropping their guards, Nami had suggested to increase the amount of their patrol to keep an eye on things till they could physically check the Grey Terminal and work on the missing person cases where they still haven’t found a single lead yet; Luffy had agreed with her.

 

It isn’t unusual for people to go missing in the Capital.

 

At least 49% of those cases were because the missing-person had escaped from their fate of being a slave. Nearly 99% of those slaves were people whom were either kidnapped from their family and normal life to become a slave or they were forced to sacrifice themselves to save someone precious to them. Once those slaves realizes the horrors that they had to face, they would run away to regain back their freedom. Most of the times they would never reach their goal as they would either be recaptured by people the Nobles hired and they would be subjected to worse punishments or there will be precautions made (strapping bombs to their body which will detonate when the slave try to escape again) when they return or they would find their loved ones murdered by the time they return back home, unless those runaway slaves were able to find someone who is strong and willing enough to help them to relocate where they could start a new life on a different and safer island. The latter option is pretty slim since no one wanted to go against any Nobles or Celestial Dragons.

 

The other 49% of those missing-person cases were nothing but just a waste of their time because those people reported weren’t actually missing; they are already dead even before those cases reached them. Those slaves weren’t killed by any supernatural being; they died due to the neglect and abuses they faced from those Nobles. Try as they might to get rid of all the evidences; especially the corpse, to prevent them from figuring out that the Nobles had murdered their worker in cold-blood, however all of them had to go through intensive and extensive training in order to become a certified Demon Hunter. With just a single look at the corpse, all of them could tell whether if the death is actually caused by supernatural beings or something else. As for skeleton remains or if they found a single organ, they would leave it to Chopper; and it wouldn’t take their healer too long, to determine the cause of death.

 

Even if they had tried to do something like putting together a case that consisted of nothing but concrete prove and submitted it to the World Government to put the Nobles or Celestial Dragons behind bars, their cases would either be dismissed or ignored as their Government are in those peoples’ pocket. In fact all of those cases would be blamed on either the supernatural being or innocent people whom are unlucky enough to become the scapegoat for everything the Nobles or Celestial Dragons had done.

 

That’s another reason for them to loathe their Government, Nobles and Celestial Dragons.

 

The remaining 2% of those cases were actually caused by the supernatural being when the slaves headed into the forest despite the repeated warnings given. However from the accounts they heard from the other slaves (who were brave enough to speak to them when they were alone) the Nobles were the one who **forced** the slaves to head into the forest; demanding their slaves to head into the forest for ridiculous reasons, that caused all those deaths. Once they found the remains, the only thing they could do was to kill any fiends or demons they came across before bringing the remains back with them for burial (unable to bring the remains back to the slave’s families because the Nobles refuses to give them any information).

 

Yet the situation seems to be different for the 20 missing-person cases that is still sitting on their large conference desk, none of the other slaves seems to have any information for them (except the fact that those were Outlook III’s slaves that were missing). Even the merchants in the Capital (who weren’t horrible people; just trying to make a living, and are always willing to keep their eyes out for them) seems to have no leads.

 

They didn’t bother to question Outlook III that man wouldn’t have any useful information that they could use.

 

At first they believed they were dealing with 20 runaway slaves until they learnt that most of the slaves had disappeared around the same time. They know that slaves would rarely plan a group escape since they never know who might betray them in order to get on the Noble’s good side and with such a large group, it’s hard to spread the plan around without anyone else like the guards from finding out. Plus they would want to escape alone since it’s harder for the Nobles to pin-point the time when they had decided to make their escape and maybe with the lack of time frame the Nobles will leave them and their family alone.

 

After talking to Dadan (whose house is closer to the Capital’s walls) and the civilians in Foosha Village (who have been known to help a small handful of slaves to escape from the island before) repeated no results, they had started forming a few theories and feared for the worse. That those missing person had either died in the mansion that Outlook III and his family lives in and those reports were made to save their image or those people managed to escape, tried hiding in the forest and met their ends there or; in the rarest case, are still in hiding because they couldn’t find a way to get themselves back to their hometown.

 

While the latter case is seriously rare however they couldn’t just throw that theory away, all of them would need to do a thorough search of the whole mountain to see if they could find anything useful information. Of course it’s going to be nearly impossible for all of them to do the search with such a small crew and they couldn’t ask the civilians for help, so their best choice is to map out the most possible hiding spots and focus their attention there.

 

As Nami and Robin poured through the map, Ace and Luffy are there to give their inputs as they had treated the mountain forest as their playground when they were young, pointing out the possible hiding spots to be added into their search. Franky and Usopp checked through everyone’s weapons to make sure that they won’t suffer from any hick-ups later on, Chopper started checking and packing his medical supplies including the list of items that Robin had asked him to pack for her use, Sanji is cooking and packing lunch boxes for everyone while Zoro is polishing his katanas; he never allowed anyone else to do that for him.

 

“Are you sure that you guys don’t want me to help out in this search?” Ace asked, pushing his chair back enough that his whole weight is balancing on two legs instead of four.

 

“We’re sure; you haven’t fully healed yet so we’re not taking any chances.” Nami answered, she didn’t even bother to look up from the map, “Plus we’re separating up into groups and this is just a simple search, it’s not like we’re combing through the whole forest.”

 

“But what if we didn’t find anything in this search?” Luffy asked.

 

“Then we will need to prepare ourselves for the worst case scenario and search the whole forest, maybe even heading into the Grey Terminal.” Robin is the one who answered this time, looking at Ace, “Of course we will wait for you to heal first before doing it.”

 

Nodding his head, Ace didn’t want argue with Robin and Nami since those two have never lost a verbal argument before, “Is there anything for me to work on while all of you are gone?” He grumbled out, hating the fact that he will not have anything to do while stuck at home.

 

“Why don’t you look through all of the reports once again? We could have missed out some important information that would have helped in this search.”

 

Pouting at the work which is assigned to him, Ace didn’t really like doing paperwork but at least it is better than staring and trying to burn a hole in the ceiling while he wait for everyone to return back home, “Fine.”

 

Nami couldn’t help but roll her eyes at a sulking Ace, while Luffy and he might be their leaders but they are useless in anything that has to do with paper; including writing reports, Robin and her are the ones who have to deal with all of the paperwork that they have to do on a daily basis, “Try not to burn those papers okay? We might need them later on.”

 

“Nami swan~, Robin chwan~, all of us are ready to head out.” Sanji cut in before Ace could rebuke Nami’s statement. He had only burnt the papers once and it was an accident; due to his narcolepsy, but everyone will never let him live it down.

 

“We’re coming!” Nami answered before giving Ace a final glare before stomping out of their meeting room, she had to spend a whole day to rewrite all of the reports that Ace had burnt.

 

Robin chuckled at the ‘drama’ in front of her, “I’m sure that Sanji-kun have left a lunch box for you in the kitchen, try not to eat it too soon since we wouldn’t know how long this search is going to take us.”

 

Checking the marks Nami made on the map, the first four points are very close to one another, “For the first four marks, why don’t we let Chopper stay in the middle point? So we could gather there once we finish checking and if we did find anyone we don’t have to walk too far to reach Chopper.” Robin suggested.

 

“That’s a good idea Robin! I could even set up some of my medical supplies while I wait for all of you.” Chopper cheered.

 

Nodding her head, “Okay, let’s quickly set off and get this done. I’m not really comfortable with leaving Ace alone in the base for too long.”

 

After spending the last several hours checking through all of the marks without any results, all of them started heading to the last mark on the map. The last location is on the other side of Dawn Island where it’s impossible to live due to the steep cliffs and it’s the furthest location they had on the map, so everyone had decided to leave this as the last to check and everyone could head there together.

 

With Luffy leading the group; since he knows this whole mountain like the back of his hands, lighting the mood with his short attention span and telling Chopper about the things which his brother and he had done in this particular spot, Nami and Robin had placed themselves at the very end of the group to keep an eye on everyone; mainly Zoro, as they discuss about this situation.

 

“This is too strange.” Nami whispered, making sure to keep her voice low from the rest.

 

Robin hummed back, “It **_is_** strange. While the search is based on our speculations and the geography of Dawn Island however we should have at least spotted some footprints or some indications that someone had trekked through the forest and we found nothing.” Turning to look at Nami, “Do you think that those are false missing-person reports?”

 

 _‘Could those people have died under Outlook III’s hands’_ is left unsaid.

 

Shrugging “Could be, because having 20 slaves missing is pretty alarming for a Noble like Outlook III. With the additional fact that he should have increased the security of the house after the first slave went missing then having another similar situation happening the next day is suspicious. However we can’t over look the fact that this could be caused by a supernatural being that had somehow managed to break through your barrier without shattering the whole thing and hiding in their mansion.”

 

Robin could only hum her agreement with Nami’s insight, “If we couldn’t find anything in this location, we might need to ask Outlook’s permission to do a thorough search of his mansion.”

 

Groaning out, “Which is going to be a pain since we don’t know if Outlook is even willing to let us walk through his front door and you know how Ace and Luffy both hate him for some reason.” Nami moaned out.

 

“Well, maybe we could avoid all of that trouble if we find something that could help us here.” Is Robin’s simple reply as she quicken her pace to catch up with the rest of their group who have already walked into the cave that they had marked; the one that Ace pointed out to them.

 

“Ace said that we should be able to find a small boat with some supplies right? Nami asked as soon as she caught up with Robin.

 

Robin nodded her head, “That’s correct, the lake inside is connected to the ocean and Dadan was the one who had placed that ship here; I remembered that she did it so they could escape if their existence was found out by the World Government and she is the one who changed the bag of supplies every few months.”

 

“That just makes me wonder what the hell did Dadan and her gang did to make the World Government loathe them enough to hand out a ‘kill on sight’ bounty.”When Nami noticed the looks that Robin is giving her, “Well, aren’t you interested?” she huffed out. The mysterious smile appeared on Robin’s face, “Wait, you know what they did?” Somehow Nami was able to keep her voice down.

 

“I’m not going to say anything.”

 

A sudden shout of shock from Chopper had stopped Nami from demanding Robin to tell her what she knows, “What’s going on?” Nami shouted as she pushed pass her team-mates so that she could see what had caused the commotion.

 

“Nami swan, we’ve found this.” Sanji pointed to the skeleton remain that Chopper is leaning over and checking.

 

“Is there only one skeleton remain?” Nami asked, scanning around the area to see if she might be able to find anything.

 

Shaking his head, “We haven’t really checked the surrounding yet since Chopper wanted to find out what is the cause of death first before letting any of us head in further.” Sanji answered easily.

 

Nami blinked at the information Sanji just shared with her, “He’s afraid of poisonous gas?”

 

Shrugging, “He said that there might be a possibility.”

 

“If the cause of death is poisonous gas, all of us should have shown the symptoms of being affected by it now.” Robin piped up from their side.

 

“Robin! Stop saying such scary things!” Franky scolded her since Usopp had clung onto him for dear life.

 

Smiling at the reaction she had, Robin stopped by Chopper’s side, “Chopper, what is your conclusion?”

 

“I can’t really tell.”

 

Blinking at the words the best healer the Academy had ever produced just told them, usually it’s the other healers who are pretty much clueless and Chopper is the only one who could clean up the mess and figure out what is baffling the others so it’s rare for Chopper to say that he couldn’t conclude the course of death. “Why couldn’t you tell? Is it because you don’t have the equipments to help you or is the corpse condition too bad for you to gain any information?” Robin asked.

 

Chopper couldn't hold back the sigh, "It's both. The body is too clean for me to do any analysis therefore I would need to use the bone but all of my equipment are back at the base."

 

Robin turned her head to Usopp, “Do you have any gas mask?” When Usopp pulled out what Robin had asked for, “Why don’t the rest of you help Chopper to bring the skeleton back to the base first while I head in to check out the area?”

 

“Robin chwan, it’s too dangerous for you to go in alone. Why don’t you leave the checking to me?” Sanji asked as he takes a step forward.

 

Smiling, “How about we check the area together? You can wear the gas mask.” Robin compromised since she knows that Sanji would never allow Nami or her to head into an dangerous situation.

 

“But-“

 

“Sanji,” cutting off Sanji’s protest, “I might not be the direct descent but it doesn’t change the fact that I have the blood of the Goddess of Witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants and magic; Hecate, in me no matter how small the amount might be. That also means that I am immune to most poisons.” Robin pointed out; there isn’t any bite in her tone since she knows that Sanji is focusing more on her gender than her powers.

 

The blush that appears on Sanji’s face proved her point, “I-I’m sorry Robin chwan. I d-didn’t mean t-to-“

 

Holding up her hand to stop Sanji from finishing his apology, “Don’t worry about it Sanji, I understand.” Shooting a quick smile at Sanji, Robin decided to refocus their attention back to the situation on hand, “Now, how about we start checking the area out to see if we could find anything that could be a clue?”

 

It didn’t take them too long to search through the cave; the cave itself isn’t too big, and while they did dug through the surface of the ground slightly with their feet to make sure that nothing had been buried underneath, they didn’t find anything that could be considered useful.

 

“This is strange.” Sanji mumbled out as he scratches the back of his head.

 

“Both Nami and I had the same thoughts. We were considering the disappearances could possibility be the work of a supernatural being.”

 

“If this is indeed one of their works, don’t you think the walls and the ground is a little bit too clean?”

 

Turning to look at the carved out walls, Robin finally see what had troubled Sanji, “You think that this might be the work of a human.” That isn’t a question but a statement.

 

Shrugging, “I’m not certain whether a human or a supernatural being had caused the death of the skeleton remain that we found but Chopper will be able to answer that question. I’m just saying that this location could be just a dump spot as there isn’t a single speck of blood to be found and there isn’t the rusted coppery scent of dried blood.” Sanji answered.

 

Nodding her head in agreement, “We will need Chopper’s findings before we could confirm anything. Let’s head back and tell the others about what we think.”

 

 

 

 

* * *

  

 

 

 

The scene that Robin and Sanji came back to isn’t what they expected.

 

Instead of coming back to a house where the others were annoyed with hearing Ace and Luffy’s constant whining about how hungry they are while Franky and Usopp are holding Nami back from smacking the living daylights out of their leaders, they came home to Luffy trying his best to hold Nami back while Ace is aggressively pacing around the space in their dining room.

 

As the scene in front of her isn’t normal, Robin immediately asks, “What happened?”

 

With Franky heading in to help Luffy in holding Nami back from destroying their base, Usopp and Chopper are too busy cowering in the corner, Brook who had been keeping an eye on Ace, “Nami-san received some unsettling news from Nojiko-san.”

 

“And what did Nojiko-san say?” Sanji lighted up his cigarette for a well earned smoke break.

 

“The small amount of Demon Hunters and Healers stationed around the West Blue had been re-stationed at Sabaody Archipelago by the Celestial Dragons.”

 

Sanji nearly dropped the cigarette in his hand, “That means that the island around West Blue is in danger of being swamp with Supernatural Beings.”

 

Brook could only nod his head to answer Sanji.

 

“Were we given the same orders to gather at Sabaody Archipelago?” Robin asked.

 

Brook shakes his head, “We didn’t receive any summons, and I’m guessing that they believe it isn’t wise to call us away from Dawn Island.”

 

“They won’t call us.” Ace cut in, he had stopped his pacing and is staring straight at them, “Those assholes have always known about our heritage, they wouldn’t bother with us even if we are the strongest Demon Hunter they have on hand. That’s one of the few reasons why the Luffy and me are stationed here; they didn’t want to deal with us so they had made sure to station us as far away from the Demon Hunter Society Headquarters as they possibility could, the magnetic field that attracts all supernatural beings on Dawn Island seems like a good choice for them to get rid of us too.”

 

No one said a single thing because they **knew** what Ace meant. Everyone learn about the brothers’ heritage after working under them for a few months; after they proved to the brothers that they are people who they could trust.

 

Ace’s heritage is something which all of them knew that they need to keep with their life. Because having the Strongest Demon Hunter the world has ever has as his biological father could spell a lot of trouble for Ace, especially when the Higher Ups in the Demon Hunter Society have a hand in it.

 

Roger had given up both his job and reputation when he finally made the choice to marry a full blooded demon also known as Portgas. D. Rouge and Ace’s mother, while there isn’t any law where it states that people can’t marry a supernatural being however the Higher Ups in the Demon Hunter Society had been against this marriage. Because having their Strongest Demon Hunter marrying a full blooded demon doesn’t represent them well at all. Those people issued the order for Roger to kill Rouge which he went against their orders and married Rouge giving up his title, certificate and even his reputation.

 

The news about what Roger did spread through-out the whole World, while some civilians didn’t mind the fact however most of them including the Nobles and Celestial Dragons were enraged with what Roger had done. In order to get rid of all of the complaints they were receiving, the Higher Ups in the Demon Hunter Society had came up with the plan of getting rid of Roger.

 

They sent out their last mission for Roger. Giving him the order of killing the strongest Demon they could find on Earth, without the choice of rejecting it, Roger knew that he wouldn’t be able to make it back home alive and had told Rouge about his last words and passed her his will before he left for the mission.

 

Roger had also informed his Demon Hunter friend; Rayleigh, and asked him to help look after Rouge and his unborn child because Roger knew that this wouldn’t the last thing that the Higher Ups in the Demon Hunter Society would do to his family.

 

Roger’s fears came true, after the World had seen the broadcast of his death by the Demon’s hands, some civilians and people that the Celestial Dragon hired had gathered together to hunt down Rouge to kill her before she gives birth. Rayleigh had done his best to find the best island for Rouge to hide on and keep his distance away from her so that no one else will tail behind him and found out where Rouge is staying at.

 

Sadly due to some complications during birth-giving, Rouge didn’t last more than four hours before she died.

 

Monkey. D. Dragon; Luffy’s father, had witness the unfairness that Roger; his friend, had to go through and didn’t like how the Higher Ups at the Demon Hunter Society are usually their powers and ranks to do whatever they please. He had started a group known as the Revolutionary Army whose purpose is to reveal all of the experiments and deeds they had hidden from the public’s eyes, and to reveal the ugly deeds which the Nobles and Celestial Dragons are doing which were covered up by the World Government. Dragon’s actions had caused him to be on the Black List for most island; usually where Nobles or Celestial Dragon resident, of course Dragon’s actions had also affected Luffy.

 

When Garp had sent both Ace and Luffy to the Academy for their certificate, the discrimination they experienced from both Lecturers and Students were all caused by Dragon’s reputation. Thank goodness Ace didn’t use any of his parents’ last names, if he did, their life there would have been worse.

 

“Then that means we’re the only group of Demon Hunters left in the West Blue, is there anything which we could do to help the other defenseless Island?” Chopper asks his eyes downcast.

 

Silence filled the air as n one knows the answer to that question, “Why don’t we take 30 minutes break and think of any solution we could individually come up with before we have a meeting to discuss about it?” Nami answered, turning her head around to look at her nakama to see if they agree with her.

 

“That’s a good idea.” Robin agreed before everyone scatter to their own private space.

 

After spending nearly an hour throwing out ideas they had came up with and it being shot down due to all of the problems and loopholes in those plans, everyone is nearly dying by that point. Sanji got up to prepare some snacks and drinks to energize everyone for this meeting that is still continuing.

 

“I know!” Luffy shouted out, standing up so abruptly that the chair he is sitting on falls over, “We could sail around West Blue to help all of those defenseless villages!” The others perked up in interest that the rare good plan that comes out of Luffy’s mouth.

 

“But by sailing around we would be leaving Dawn Island defenseless, and that’s a huge problem.” Robin pointed out.

 

Luffy visibly deflated from the loophole in his plan, setting his chair straight before settling down once again. And everyone could see that their younger leader had given up on formulating a plan.

 

“How about this,” Ace started, gaining everyone’s attention, “since Luffy’s plan of sailing around to help other islands seems to be the best idea out of the others, instead of having the whole crew going on the trip, we could actually take turns. Dawn Island would be our starting point and half of us would sail around first with one of us,” he pointed to Luffy and him, “and the other half would stay on Dawn Island. When the sailing crew managed to make one round and ended up back on Dawn Island, the half that had stay back could sail around.”

 

Ace’s idea seems solid however Nami could find at least one loophole in the plan, “But what about Chopper?” she asks, “He’s our only healer here, and if he sail around what are we going to do if someone on Dawn Island needed his healing help?”

 

Tilting his head to the side, “Well, Chopper could prepare a large dose of all kind of his healing potions that are for the more common illness so that the sailing crew could bring half of it and the rest would be left here. Since we do not know how long it has been since the other Demon Hunters and Healers have left their station, Chopper would need to be on stand-by for the first time and be prepared to join the sailing crew. Once the sailing group reach the first island, they would need to count the amount of civilians who needed a healer’s help. If the number is huge, Chopper would need to join them as it would only mean that the island would be having the same problem.” Ace answered.

 

It took a while for everyone to absorb Ace’s plan, but once they did the mood seems to lighten. They finally have a plan that they could work with.

 

“What if Chopper isn’t on the sailing group and we found a patient who is in critical condition?” Robin is the one asking this time.

 

Ace leaned back against the backrest of his chair, “You could bring the patient back to Dawn Island so that Chopper could heal him or her, once the patient had been handed over to Chopper the sailing crew could head back to the island they just departed from and continue their journey. One of the crew that is left on the island will be responsible for bringing the patient back to their island once they are fully cured.”

 

“But the speed of the ship depends on the wind conditions for that day, so we couldn’t even do anything if we were stuck due to the lack of wind!”

 

Ace pointed at Franky who is their craft master, “I’m sure that Franky with Usopp’s help will be able to create something that could solve that problem.”

 

“SSSSUUUPPPPEEEERRRRR, I could do something about it! I have some pretty good ideas that are popping into my mind right now!” Franky agreed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe how smooth I was able to write this chapter. If there are any confusion about the portion after the line-break, I'm sorry for that as I am mentally exhausted when I am typing that portion. If you have any chapters please do ask me, I'll try my best to answer in the comment section. =D
> 
> Thank you for giving this story a chance!

**Author's Note:**

> I've made some progress on the second chapter however I will be working on other fanfic first (the last chapter) before I continue working on this. So really, this might be a slow update.
> 
> Thank you for giving this story a chance, please do comment about your thoughts for this AU. Thank you and I will update as soon as I can!!


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